Friday, February 08, 2013

Call for Assistance: Tabulae Rudolphinae Census

The following announcement was posted on Ex-Libris this week and is reposted here with permission. I hope anyone with access to the book will respond to the query (as you all now, I'm a big fan of book censuses and love to help out with them in any way possible).

"My name is Stefano Gattei and I teach history and philosophy of science at the IMT Institute for Advanced Studies, Lucca, Italy.

I am currently working on a census of all existing copies of Johannes Kepler's Tabulae Rudolphinae, 1627.
The first edition of this book presents components in 3 different states, which can be recognized by a few characteristics of the first few pages. My census aims at providing a precise descriptions of each copy, and therefore reconstruct the book's complex publication history.

In order to do that, I need answers to a list of 10 questions, which take just a few minutes to reply.
My census will be published in a forthcoming book of mine on Johannes Kepler's Tabulae Rudolphinae (published by Oxford University Press/)/ and will describe all available copies in public libraries. I have already seen a number of copies in private collections, but I know there are several more, either in private hands or on the antiquarian book market.

I would ask all members to let me know if they have copies of Kepler's book, and possibly help me get in touch with private collectors who bought them in the past. Of course, individual owners are free to indicate whether they want to be explicitly mentioned in my census or else prefer to be kept anonymous."

Please contact Stefano Gattei at stefano.gattei@imtlucca.it if you can assist with this important work.

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About Me

Reviews of books old and new; news and commentary on book history, library culture, digital humanities, archives and related subjects. Written by Jeremy Dibbell, a bibliophile, haunter of used bookstores, and Director of Communications and Outreach for Rare Book School. Email: philobiblos@gmail.com.